Weekend Top Five 1/5/08

After two weeks of vacation, thinking about heading back into the rat race got to me so I decided to make an impromptu trip to Chicago to visit my brother's family. Steve had to work so the boys and I headed out Friday morning. The portable DVD player was missing a cord (which has since been found on top of the fridge...strange that my 5'4" self didn't see it) but the new leapsters and games made a previously rough trip very smooth both ways. I was amazed at how well behaved the boys were the entire trip. I was so proud of them both.

My top five has a few of the more memorable moments from our quick little jut away.

5. Facebook Worries

After becoming the victim of hackers through facebook, a large amount of my weekend was spent worrying about passed information and changing all of our passwords everywhere. I am praying that they didn't get my email accounts and do the same to all of the people in my address book. I feel so victimized.


4. Cousin Fun

Other than lunch out and a quick trip to an indoor playground, the bulk of our little trip was cousin play time and good talks with Jenny and Matt. The kids played so well and five kids really didn't feel as overwhelming as it has in the past. Here are a couple of my favorite shots...

Aaron and Cousin Kira













Noah and Cousin Odin














3. Mamma Mia with my Brother

What an adventure it was! I rented Mamma Mia on Thursday for the weekend. Steve and I watched it Thursday night and then I took it with me to watch it with Jenny (my SIL). My brother settled in to watch it with us, laptop in lap.

I don't know which was more amusing; watching the movie, or watching my brother watch the movie. Every time a particular goofy part came on, there he sat, furiously typing away. (If you have friended my brother, you have got to check out his running commentary. It is quite amusing) He knew all of the songs because of a crazy 80's techno group that had recorded the songs years ago, and I suspect that he enjoyed it more than he let on.

2. Choo Choo Johnny's

A fun little diner restaurant we went to for lunch before we left. It is a long counter set up like a Big U and there are several trains throughout the restaurant. There is a big one behind glass to watch, one traveling long the edge of the ceiling, and the most fun, a train that comes around and delivers your meal. There are also several games (chuck e cheese type) for the kids to play while they were waiting.
Our group sat down at the long counter













and watched the train deliver lunch to every other group sitting nearby












until our finally came













and they even got spoiled with ice cream for dessert.


















1. Back To School Supper

Noah is pretty upset about school starting again. As soon as we started talking about it, that little boy with all the problems magically came back. I was trying to think of something fun to make our last day special for him. Meanwhile, Steve was nagging me about what to make for dinner.

I remembered something my step mom had bought for us for Christmas dinner that we hadn't used yet...

Chocolate Pancakes!













Oh my gosh...how good these were! It was a special mix from the Market store we had gone to.

I am quite sure that we all had brownies for dinner for how good they were.

We won't have them often, but I think I will get some more of this mix for another special time.

So here we go. Back to real life. I have to make a half dozen calls, try to find a way to pay some bills, make some important decisions, and take Aaron to get his blood drawn for allergy testing.

Nothing like a slam back into reality.

Happy Monday!